The Many and Varied Technicalities of Immortality
by LeonaWriter
Summary: During one of his earlier cases, Sherlock Holmes manages to find himself accidentally immortal, yet not invulnerable.  Little over a century later and he is back. But not only that; events seem to be repeating themselves, starting with one John Watson...


The Many and Varied Technicalities of Immortality

...

He had first suspected something amiss when his affectation of disease - his purported main reasoning for calling on Watson - began to become much more than affectation with very little prompting. If he had been of the kind to fall to illness easily, this would not have caused him any worry, but since he was not, it was of some concern.

His original intent had been to act out of sorts, without food or water to augment this, and treat himself with various means in order to make the ruse worthwhile, so that even the good doctor would not be able to tell him apart from a deservedly bedridden patient.

This, quite clearly, changed things somewhat. He evidently could not skew the symptoms which he had decided on showing, but perhaps a little deception would not go amiss. Mrs Hudson surely would not mind if one or two items of food and some water went missing over his fasting period.

Yet if nothing else, he would not have to put on pretence of just as many symptoms as he would have to cover up.

That only left the origins of his mysterious real-life illness. It could not be discounted that all of the possibilities so far deduced fell on Culverton Smith, given the man's speciality, and the proximity to the man's research he had been in not that very long ago.

In the privacy of his rooms, Watson as yet having not arrived, he steepled his hands in front of him. Culverton Smith would be caught not long from now if his plan went well, and all would then be revealed.

...

**An Excerpt From the Personal Journal of Dr. John H. Watson **

_It was with great relief on my behalf that the adventure that in my notes I have begun to call 'The Dying Detective' - which is, I must admit, possessing of a certain irony I am now aware - came to a close._

_My friend had to all visible intents and purposes cleared up the case which he had found and investigated, and caused the main suspect to create his own confession, of his own volition. In fact, he quite clearly stated that he had affected all signs of illness, and never before had I been more pleased to hear that one of my patients was nothing more than a highly talented malingerer. Indeed, he professed with satisfaction that he had most missed being able to smoke, and although he was, in fact, possessed of a somewhat sore throat that caught while he spoke, I put it down to nothing more than a simple lack of fluids, which would be quickly and easily rectified._

_I still wish to this day that I had listened to my feelings on the matter rather than let things stand, as within moments of Holmes reaching for his coat, his eyes had rolled back into his head, and his limbs losing the ability to keep him upright. The next thing that Mrs. Hudson and I knew, the great detective was on the floor, passed out._

_My feelings regarding this development can surely be readily understood. Remember if you will that most of this case had occurred due to the assumption that Holmes had come down with some mysterious and exotic disease that only the one doctor, Culverton Smith, could alleviate. Remember, if you will, that Holmes himself had explained how the small box which he had been sent could have been the end of him, rather than the performance he had been giving us. It truly was not such a leap of deduction on my part to assume that he had, in fact, been hiding something from us, and perhaps even caught some illness while in the presence of Smith's studies._

_Nevertheless, with a little help from some water and smelling salts, Holmes came around, fully aware and irritated at his show of weakness._

_He accurately deduced that he had only been out for moments, yet was still fully intent on making his way to the station to give his statement that very moment, as soon as he had his bearings once more. In fact, had it not for my intervention and my calling upon my role as a doctor, which he himself had asked for mere hours ago through Mrs. Hudson, he would have. _

_As it was, I noticed quite clearly that my old friend was not as well as he would want us to believe, and instead had a high fever he should not have believed himself required to falsify, and a look about him as though he were about to pass out once more. His voice, he endeavoured to keep steady, but I was too familiar with him and his habits to be fooled._

_I prescribed him bed rest until I was able to be pleased with his recovery from his own foolishness, and insisted on moving back in to Baker Street for the duration of two nights, to be certain that it was not, in fact, some exotic disease he had somehow contracted. By that time, however, I was satisfied that it was not, but it took a further week until he was fully and truthfully recovered far enough that he could go down to the station and give Lestrade his report._

_By this reckoning, his entire convalescence had easily become over two weeks, and by the end of it he was in as foul a mood as I had ever seen him._

_Perhaps, in retrospect, I should have asked Holmes exactly what he had encountered during his investigations of Culverton Smith's greenhouses, and for his true whereabouts for the duration of the case. Yet I did not. Whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen, but I am certain of one thing, above all others; this extended version of the Adventure of the Dying Detective will never reach the general public. There are some details for which they are quite simply not ready or prepared for._

...

AN: Later on, this is going to turn into a Detective Conan/Magic Kaito crossover, but for the moment, until the modern day, it's going to be mainly Sherlock. There may be references to other detective series, but none of them will be true crossovers in the way that the DCMK stuff later on will be.

The second half of the chapter came from my wanting to write something in the style of the original novels. I think I achieved that.


End file.
